What Hope Does To You
by oneresilientheart
Summary: After Regina witnesses Robin's family reunion, she has to deal with the storming feelings in her recovering heart. (Snowqueen friendship and Outlawqueen)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N So I apologize for the spelling/grammar/whatever mistakes. I was supposed to be writing my thesis but this idea couldn't leave my mind and I gave in to it. I know it's oq week and that there are specific prompts everyday. This is not it, this is a random idea I had. I'm not sure about the future chapters really... I mean if you think it's good leave comments and I'll work through it or even ideas. As I said this was really sort of random writing, also my first fic. English is not my first language so if you see mistakes etc please help me out. **

She leaves. Before being taken by the turmoil that is her feelings at the moment she wonders if the audience enjoyed the pained look on her face. She wonders if Mary Margaret saw it and she hopes not because that would mean that she would do what she does best talk through it.

She feels betrayed. But is it really? Emma didn't know what she was doing she was just inconsequent. There is not betrayal after all. She's angry and she knows too well how dangerous of a place this is because for a lifetime anger was all she had. She feels guilty for being so selfish thinking about the second lost chance when Roland got his mother back. Then she hears him saying, "Mama" with so much surprise and excitement. And she remembers how Robin told her that he would give anything to have Marian back. Then, she leaves.

She's so angry. It really is nobody's fault except for her own. "Villains don't get happy endings", Rumple's words echoes in her head. How could she fool herself into thinking that a day using light magic could erase decades of blood spreading? She fears how disappointed Henry will be, he believed vehemently on her redemption… So did she.

She hears people calling out her name and before anyone follows her, she's covered on purple smoke. She lands on her bedroom. This is too painful. She didn't remember what suffering felt like before she had her heart darkened. And it is truly painful, because she is not only considering her suffering. No. She is thinking of everything that happened, she's thinking about Mary Margaret encouraging words on how her heart would become even stronger. It really doesn't seem like it now. She is thinking of the conviction of true love that hit her the moment she kissed Henry's forehead. She is thinking of his smile when he recognized her. She's thinking of how once she tried to curse herself to an eternal middle because she didn't believe she would see Henry again. She's thinking of the moment she saw Robin keeping his promise getting her heart back. She realizes that different from the past she actually hopes now and that is what makes everything even more painful.

Regina is staggering to her bed as these thoughts rush through her mind. She gasps and sobs and she reaches her bed. That's when she realizes that she's also being taken over by a migraine. They've become more and more frequent lately. She figured it had to do with her last battles but she never really took the time to heal herself.

She brings her fingertips to her temple and massages it. She's better get a painkiller. She hopes none of the Charmings come after her. She hopes Henry doesn't do it either. She has to first figure out what she is feeling, for it's been years since this ocean of emotions has taken her. She stumbles towards the stairs. She needs to take something.

Her hands are covering her mouth and she sobs and gasps for air. Her vision starts to blur and she realizes she apart from the wetness of the tears she's sweating. She's grabbing a glass to get water with the pills on her hand when the pain hits her. Her shaky hand releases the pills and holds onto the counter. The last thing she thinks is of how happy she felt holding Roland's hand and looking at Robin's smile. She collapses on her kitchen floor as the glass of water shatters.

"Emma, what have you done?", Snow asks as she sees the family Reunion. "I… I didn't know. We have to go after her", Emma fears how Regina will handle this situation. Because for the first time she has a better idea of what a broken heart did to Regina, especially after the encounter with the Evil Queen in the Enchanted Forest.

Henry is rushing to where his mother and grandmother are, "Where's my mom? Where did she go?"

"Henry, she left. I made a mistake. I'm so sorry"

"What happened? Is she ok?"

"Henry, I'm sure you'll see her soon. She loves you. But why don't you take Neal with you and Emma…" before she finishes her requirement Emma says, "Mary Margaret let me come with you, I can fix this…"

"No Emma you can't." Emma saw this look on her mother's face only once when she tried to leave town with Henry and she harshly confronted her when she came back.

"Mary Margaret, please…"

"No, Emma. Let me deal with Regina. We came a long way and I finally got the woman who saved me back. I'll talk to her."

Robin finally looks up to meet Snow's eyes and all she can see is a man torn. He says, "I'll go talk to her" and Snow says with an understanding look that he's better not.

"It's time for you to think this through and let Roland enjoy his mother. But Robin make no mistake, I'm not saying you can postpone this forever… You'll… You'll have to come to an understanding of what's happening and figure out what you feel towards Regina." He only nods and she can see how much he cares for her.

"David I'm going after her"

"Mary Margaret…"

"I'll be fine, I promise." She takes his hands with a gentle squeeze and leaves.

She knocks on the door but nobody answered as she thought so. She opens the door "Regina? Regina, please it's me Snow. Don't push me away, please.", she enters the living room and she sees a glimpse of a hand behind the counter. She runs to her stepmother, "Regina? Regina wake up!" The woman's face is pale and she's covered in sweat. She's relieved when she sees her chest moving slowly but she's scared of how cold her skin is now. Mary Margaret looks at the shattered glass on the floor and the pills.

Regina's hand moves a little and Mary Margaret realizes she's coming to consciousness.

"Regina, can you hear me?"

Her voice is hoarse and her eyes are still closed "Snow? What…" that's when she feels her body flat against the floor and the pound on her head.

"Everything's ok. Do you remember what happened?"

"What are you doing here? I'm fine", she tried balances herself on her elbows and tries to sit down but the pain on her head is too strong and she winces. Snow holds her up on a sitting position.

"You know why I'm here."

"Well, we all learned a lesson today Snow. You rainbow talk does not work with me. I had hope, and you just saw the good it did to me. So, please leave me alone. I just…" she traces her temple with her fingers and adds, "I have a migraine, which is not a surprise considering the last few days. But I'll be fine."

"Regina are you sure this has nothing to do with Robin or…"

She is grabbing the top of the counter to stand up while Snow is still holding her forearm to give support. It still infuriates her how obnoxiously nice Snow can be. "Please leave me alone" her eyes grow darker and she looks at her stepdaughter "there is no space for hope or second chances in my life…" She's standing up finally when her knees buckle and if it weren't for Mary Margaret she'd fallen straight to the floor. Snow has a puzzled look "Regina? Look at me." The woman is starring down with a surprised look as if she also has no idea what's happening. As Snow is holding her up and placing her gently on a chair she succumbs.

Frustration overpowers her. She's disgusted by her weakness now. She's disgusted that she didn't make Snow leave, that she had not power to overcome this migraine, that she can't even stand up right now… and that's when she violently pushes everything on the counter on the floor and a loud sob leaves her mouth as everything falls on the floor. Snow grabs her and pulls her closer. She feels Regina's tears rolling down on her own skin. But she didn't forget how much paler the woman became, "Regina, we should go to the hospital."

"No, I'm fine."

"No you're not and you're getting worse. Can you stand up?" Regina doesn't even realize that she is leaning completely on Snow's body and Snow wonders how conscious is the woman right now. Regina blinks apparently noticing what she was doing and tries to push herself away and stand up. Snow sees as the woman does what she does best, fight. She is not going to surrender to Snow's help. So she stands up and the whole room swirls around her and she has no balance. Snow puts her arm around her waist before the woman falls.

"We're going to the hospital. Henry would kill me if he found out I left you like this"

The last thing Regina hears before losing consciousness again is her stepdaughter calling David to come.

She wakes up to bright lights and a hand holding hers. She blinks trying to take in where she is and has the wrong impulse to sit down. That was clearly a bad choice and she feels as if her head will blow up…

"Mom?"

She winces and tries to open her eyes slowly. "Where am I?"

"Hi Mom! You're in the hospital. Mary Margaret and David brought you in."

"Oh…" she recalls the previous night, how Snow had found her… How Robin found Marian.

"You shouldn't try to move… Whale said something about a concussion and that it caused you to loose balance a little. I'm sure someone will explain it to you… I was scared when I saw you here."

She then took her surroundings in and looked fully on her son's eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. Thank you for being here but I'm ok. Don't worry."

"No you're not. But it's ok. I'll wait for you to be ready to tell me that." He squeezes her hand and she's speechless and puzzled by what answer should she give him when Snow comes in the room with David behind her.

"Welcome back. Are you feeling any better?"

"When can I leave Snow?"

"Well, I can't really say but Whale will come and talk to you. You… You scared me when I found you on your kitchen's floor."

"Well I'm fine now. Let me go home now." Her words are demanding but there's a thankful look on her eyes that are too clear to Snow. She comes by the bed and touches Regina's hand as she holds a suspicious look to her stepmother.

"He's been visiting you since I brought you in. Robin."

She flinches at the sound of the name and sadness take over her.

"He shouldn't. He has a family to take care of." She pauses and takes a deep breath, "Snow, why are you doing this? Why did you come after me?"

"Do you remember when I saved you from your guards and you asked me if I wanted the woman who saved me back in my life… I told you I did. And I know right after that I told you there was no forgiveness I could give you… But you came back and when I saw the woman that saved me again I remembered that I forgave her long ago. I can't loose her again."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: WOW Guys! You're amazing. Thank you for the nice reviews and comments. This is a shorter chapter but I hope you like it too. **

**I'm currently looking for a beta... I'm sure I can use the help. So, meanwhile, bare with me and just forgive me for spelling/grammar/punctuation problems. And, again if you guys have any ideas, things that you would like to see let me know. **

**You're the best! **

* * *

Regina stays at the hospital for 3 days. Dr. Whale wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything more complicated than a concussion and some post stress reactions. So while he ran a sea of exams and tests on her he also made sure she was getting the rest needed.

Henry was there most of the time. Sometimes she woke up to the gentle touch of his hands on her, they talked a lot. He asked about her life in the Enchanted forest, before the years as a queen; about the castle, the village.

Then, he tells her again about the apple tree in Central Park and what he felt every time he saw it. She's smiling at her son's confession, she's amazed of how much he'd grown and in a moment she hears,

"… I really missed you, mom. Even if I didn't know it back then. I'm sorry you had to to give me up…"

"Henry, you don't have to apologize. I told you that it was my fault, I had to deal with the consequenc…" Henry sighs and grabs her hands, "Mom. Stop."

She is mesmerized by her little prince's tone and the seriousness on his eyes. She knows she has no option then to listen to him. She has a gentle grin on her face for realizing how regal is his posture now, and how firm he's become. So, she nods as telling him to continue.

" I've been feeling so many different things since you broke the curse. I don't think you realize that… I think… I think I didn't know how much I loved you mom." Regina's eyes are vivid and searching for the disappointment that she usually saw on his eyes. But, she doesn't find it, instead she finds acceptance. "Really mom, I remember all of those years before I found out you were the Evil Queen" she stiffens at the title's mention and he smiles at her because he knows her too well now.

"I remember how you taught me to ride a bike, and how I loved you apple pastries," he chuckles and adds, "wow I also remember how freaked out I became about apples after, it's actually kinda funny." He knows that she is expecting something bad to happen now and that's why he goes on telling her the good things…

"I remember how you would let me eat pizza on Saturday nights, how I loved your smell… but once I got the book things changed. I feared you, mom. And I'm sorry for that I found out about who you were and I questioned your love for me… I thought… I thought that I was also part of your master plan to destroy Snow White, and… the fact that you pretended you didn't know about it convinced me even more… I just stopped believing you loved me."

She does not know how to react to this. Her heart is beating fast on her chest at every word Henry says. Her eyes stopped looking at him because it was too hard.

"I stopped looking at you as my mom and you became the Evil Queen. But the day you let me go with David changed things. And then there was the well's moment and the mine's sacrifice that you were willing to make… Mom, look at me." She raises her eyes to him and they are full of tears. "That's when I had a glimpse of Regina, the real Regina, my mother. The one that Snow White was so proud to acknowledge that taught her about true love. You told me yourself mom, that you were not good at love… that's kinda true. But you became the best when it comes to loving. I can finally see who you are now. I'm not too young to just see you as a motherly figure or to immature to label you as pleased. I'm your son and you let me see you by who you really are. And, mom, I love who you are. When I remembered everything it was as if a wave of feelings hit me. Because for a long time I thought I didn't love you and I just kept those feelings bottled up… then, then suddenly I remember who you are, what you did and I remembered how much I love you. Then, the next thing is that you're unconscious on the floor and I can't explain what I felt any better than, desperation. I needed to show you my love and I thought I wouldn't be able to…"

The tears are rolling on her face and he wipes her tears with his hands and says, "You had no clue right. You really think you don't deserve this… Mom, I know you're not fine. And, I told you it's ok. But you don't have to be afraid. I mean, you can be angry, I get angry sometimes, but you will always have my love. I know it sounds not true because technically I stopped loving you for a while… But now I can't forget that you gave me True Love. I will always love you, even if tomorrow you decide to become who you were, I can't forget about the true love's kiss. But I believe in you mom. And I want to protect you and to love you."

For a second she thinks this is one of the few pleasant dreams she had during the missing year. He's looking on her eyes and she knows that he can see her soul, and there is no emotion she can hide from him anymore.

"I'm sorry I failed you so many times, Henry. I always loved you, mostly in a wrong way. But I learned the hard way how to love… In fact, I remembered how to love. And I couldn't be happier to know that I finally succeeded in showing you my love."

Henry hugs her with all his strength because he knows how she once thought this would never happened. He also knows that now is the moment. He broke the walls and she let him in. He motions for her to give him some space on the bed and sits beside her. He wraps his arm around her and says,

"Mom…"

Her head is resting on his chest and she looks up at him.

"Yes, sweetheart."

"Are you ok?"

She sighs and the tears are coming faster than she thought they would, she has no control over them and her body is shaking. She feels him tightening his arms around her and she says, "No, Henry. I'm not ok." Then she lets it go, all the pain and the contradiction of emotions that she has, she lets it go on her son's arms.

"It will be ok, mom, I'm here now."

He watches his mom sob until her whole body is relaxed and her head is on his shoulder. She's asleep when Robin appears at the glass window. Henry looks at him and Robin approaches to the door. He can see the wetness on Henry's shirt and the exhaustion on her face. He knows she was crying. He doesn't come any closer but he whispers, "Is she feeling better?"

"Yes. She's just resting. But I don't think she's ready to see you yet."

"That's alright. Thank you for letting me see her." He turns around and is about to leave when Henry calls him, "Robin?"

He looks at Henry. "Promise me that whenever she's ready you won't hurt her."

"That was never my intention, Henry. But I promise." And he leaves.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: OK! This is getting way too emotional for me =) Kidding! But seriously I'm so thankful for the Rev and Fav and Foll... Sheesh! I get really excited about reviews so... let me know what you liked the most or if there's something you guys expect. I'm still looking for a beta =/ I hope to get one soon. Enjoy the chapter =D**

Maine was never the warmest state of New England. It has its ups and downs, but the cold weather is certain to come at some point. While Regina was in the hospital the temperature fell a little, but just enough to make the woman shiver as she exited the hospital.

She'd insisted with Whale that whenever she was to be released from the hospital, she wanted to do it alone.

"There's no need to call the Charming tribe… or Henry. I'm fine."

"Regina, I really think you should have at least one person with you…"

"Whale I understand now that you title as a Doctor was given in your world by the acquirement of a degree of some sorts, differently from the cricket that got his from a curse. So, I always assumed you were smarter, clearly, I was wrong. What part of alone did you not understand?"

"Have it your way, Your Majesty. I would advise you though to tell me any and every change that you feel with your headaches…"

"Now, when am I going to be free from this eternal boredom?"

"Later tonight. I'll send in the papers for you to sign… Also, Regina, Henry said he is coming this afternoon as always and he is going to ask me. What would, Your Majesty, want me to tell him about you leaving the hospital?"

She softened her look at the mention of Henry's worries about her.

"Just tell him that it will be soon enough."

Whale nodded and left the room.

Thinking about her conversation with the Doctor now she is pondering if it really was a wise decision to do this by herself. She's in the car waiting for the heater to warm up a little. She is well aware of the risk of driving right now. She's still feeling a little buzz in her head and eventually when she turned her head quick she could feel the whole world spinning. She would do it anyway. At this point she can only think about the few hours she has before the Charmings find out she left the hospital.

When she gets home she sees the reminder of her passing out as the shattered glass is still on her kitchen floors. She ignores it and goes to the fireplace where she can clearly smell the scent of wood, of forest. All the pain is back in seconds and she is lost on her own thoughts. She takes on of the meds that Whale gave her and takes some painkillers as she's feeling her head throbbing. She doesn't know what to think or what to do with her feelings. As a matter of fact, she is not even sure about who she is right now. She's certainly not the Evil Queen – although she will always be there, or so she thought; she's not the Queen; she is not the innocent and passionate Regina that lost Daniel; she also not the woman who didn't understand the emptiness inside her heart before she held out baby Henry on her arms. Maybe she's all of them.

But Storybrooke changed her. The curse changed her. The curse was a second chance and an apparent quick way out of her impending destiny as a villain.

She wakes up to a sore neck and she notices that she's lying on the couch. The painkiller must've put her to sleep. Suddenly she hears what in fact woke her up and she sighs and she thinks of Snow on the other side of the door knocking.

"Regina, please…"

She tries closing the door on him, but she's way too weak right now and he's stronger than her. So, he holds the doors with his hands.

"Robin… What are you doing here?"

"I went to the hospital and they told me you came home and I thought… I thought I should check if you were ok."

"Well as you can see I'm perfectly fine. So, please leave, now."

The woman's words were deceived by her looks. She had tired eyes and bags under them, her hands were trembling and she was certainly using the doors to balance her. This whole picture was like an arrow shot right on his heart.

"Regina, we need to talk. You and I, we need to figure this out. I just want to talk to you, you mean too much for me to not even try."

She's too tired to argue and she keeps her eyes down. He takes it as surrender, so he comes in. He enters and sits facing the fireplace. She inhales his smell and thinks of how she's sure this is going to be the last time they will be together like this. Then, she sighs and sits beside him.

"Milady, I don't know what to do right now. I'm certain about my feelings for you, but she is Roland's mother and I also loved her."

Loved. Does he still love her now? She's taking his words in but just the sound of his voice brings so much pain… and loss, because she doesn't have him anymore. She knows it.

"I apologize for reacting the way I did and for letting you go like that. I should've come after you… and then when I heard you were at the hospital my whole soul sank into darkness…"

"Robin, stop. There's no need to apologize. And you know that." She says that looking at her hand, their eyes never meeting.

He reaches to her chin and she closes her eyes at his touch.

"It always puzzled me how I don't see you as the Queen here. During that missing year you were here, not the Evil Queen, the Queen. And, with that your presence filled a whole room. You're still regal but in a different way. But I…"

For the first time she meets his eyes and strangely enough they are fierce, as if she is up to something.

"You what?"

"I heard Marian telling how she was imprisoned on the Evil Queen's dungeons" her eyes do not falter and her can't read what she is thinking. "I can't see you doing that Regina, that is not you… it was you. I'm just…"

She then blinks and turns her sitting position a little to face him completely.

"Very well, then. Let me make things easier for you, Robin. I most certainly was responsible for you beloved's death; tough I did not know who she was, or who you were for that matter. She was not the only one I killed. You said yourself that you heard stories about the great and terrible Evil Queen. Well, I killed many, bare hands sometimes. So many that I don't remember. This is who I was…." The mask she just put on to tell him this astonishes him. Here's the Queen he didn't see before. He can see her putting her eyes down and then taking a deep breath to continue,

"I may not be exactly like that now, but I will always have my past to remember me of who I was. You got you're family back, couple of nights ago you told me how you would pay any price to have her back. You got _your_ second chance. Personally, I wouldn't waste it. She is your son's mother. You shouldn't worry about me or whatever you think you started to feel for me in the past weeks or so. These are meaningless. Well, they should be now that you have your family…"

"Regina you can't possibly mean what you're saying…"

"I am. And now that we talked I think it's time for you to leave."

He knows that she's trying to push him away but he is also conflicted with the fact that his soul mate killed his wife… Before he stands up, he holds her hand and looks deep inside her eyes. She knows he can read her soul because she let this man, who was only a thief, see her so vulnerable that now it is impossible to hide something from him.

They don't day a word. He stands up and leaves. The moment he opens the door, there is a surprised Henry ready to knock. Robin sadly nods to him as if to say that they settled the situation and Henry steps in. His mother is starring blankly at the fire. He comes and places a hand on her shoulder, which startles her. She shyly presents him with a thin smile,

"Can I spend the night here, mom? I miss you."

She blinks the tears away and stands up to hold her little prince closer to her.

"Of course, Henry. Are you hungry or anything?"

He knows his mom too well to know that she's pretending nothing happened.

"I'm ok. I was wondering if I could sleep with you… I mean in your room. After all it was a whole year without snuggling…" He smiles the brightest smile she'd ever seen.

"I missed you too my little prince. I think I'm heading to bed now, would you mind?"

"Of course not."

They get settled to go to sleep. He can see the sad look on his mother's eyes from 100 miles. But, regardless, she smiles when she sees him lying on her bed all cuddled under her blankets. He is her true love and that cannot be taken from her. She lies beside him and she's tense but when he rests his head on her shoulder her whole body relaxes. Her sleep is crowded with dreams. Dreams of her being the Evil Queen and catching Robin Hood; dreams of her desiring to jump from her balcony and dreams of deep blue eyes that penetrated her soul.

* * *

When Robin leaves Regina's house he notices the quick drop on the temperature. The winds are cold and strong and the years in the forest taught how to read the weather perfectly. To his astonishment his looks at the sky and thinks that every nature sign around him is pointing towards snowy weather.

As he is walking towards the camp, his eyes widen when he sees the trail of snow that's leading to the track to Zelena's house. In a second he does one of the few things he learned about cellphones and speed dials the Sheriff's number.

"Hello?"

"Miss Swan? This is Robin…"

"Robin? Is everything okay with Regina… or Marian?"

"Yes. Yes. I'm calling because there's a peculiar track that I just found that I'm sure will attract your attention. I think you should come to see it and make sure you get your winter's coat on.

"Winter's coat? What do you mean by…" Emma looks at the window and to her surprise she can see tiny snowflakes slowly falling from the sky. She gets ready at once and wakes her father up to come with her.

**TBC…**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I can say that this one was kinda a struggle. Hopefully it will be a good one. Have fun and leave some reviews :)**

David and Emma were startled by the drastic change on the weather. They met with Robin at the beginning of the trail of ice at the edge of the forest.

"Seriously?! Do we ever get a break? Or is the whole Happily Ever After Thing really an illusion?" Emma's expression is a mixture of disbelief and shock.

"Do you think this could be her sister, Zelena? I thought she was dead..." Robin is stepping on the thin icy track that by it's perfect size and form, one can clearly assume was made by magic. The simple thought of Zelena being back makes him worry about Regina's well being.

"She is dead. Plus, if she were alive and free she would've come for Regina already... This... This is something else, I fear. Let's try to track down the end of this ice path..." David looks at his daughter with a little of uncertainty of what they might find. Robin went back to his camp to get his bow and arrow and met with the Charming squad while they were on their way following the track.

At this point, Emma learned to sense the presence of magic. Actually, she learned how to discern that the weird feeling she has sometimes is either the excessive presence or the complete lack of magic. It is as if the air around her either filling up her lungs to the top or she can't breath at all. Right now, her nostrils are being filled with magical air and even though her magic was taken by Zelena, she never forgot the sensation, and she hopes it will come back to her. She wishes that Regina were here with her; somehow the woman brings her confidence. But then, she would probably want to kill her, after Emma destroyed her happy ending. She thinks out loud,

"Maybe it would be wise to call Regina… or Gold." She says Regina's name and notices how Robin's face fall at the sound.

"Let's find out the source of it first... We will need them later regardless." David also noticed how tense Robin became. With the usual subtlety that resides on the Charming family tree, he points at the ice structure in the center of the forest surrounded by trees turning their attention to the white landscape in front of them.

"What the heck is this?" Emma asks. The structure was beautifully built and although it was not the biggest construction the ice and snow on it made it look like it was made out of glass and clouds.

David is the one to give the command to retrocede. "Let's go back. There's something strange about this and I'm sure Gold can bring some light to the situation.

They were leaving, but Robin stopped quickly to take a last glance at the ice structure. He starred at a window at the top of it…

"Is that a…"

Emma turns around and says, "Did you say anything?"

He is sure he saw a blond woman starring back at him. But he thinks that perhaps he should be quiet by now. So, he just looks quickly at the window again and answers Emma.

"No. I was just thinking out loud, Sheriff. We should get out of here before the sunrise."

They decided to head to Gold's shop. Later, Emma would figure out a way to approach Regina. It was clear, though that her help would be needed.

* * *

She wakes up feeling cold and she can see the hair on her arm rising by the cold weather. She did not expect this at this time of the year. Henry is tugged on her arms and she moves really slowly to get out of bed without waking him up. The clock is marking 5:15am, she's not ready to wake up, and she just needs to put the heater on… Her feet land smoothly at the carpet by her bed and she looks at the window where she can see the few inches of snow accumulated. She wraps herself on her silk robe and exits the room.

The whole house feels so cold. She walks to the heater box on the corridor and changes the temperature. When she comes back to the bedroom she stops at the door and just looks at Henry. Her little prince is definitely becoming a man now. Looking at him is one of the most soothing feelings she's known. There's no anger, no disappointment or expectations. There is just the honesty of a love that was conquered.

There's a deep quietness in the morning that makes her pensive. She breathes in and out as she's consciously calming herself, when she senses it. It is an uncanny sensation, really. She knows it's here and she knows it is not hers. She can discern that it is also a different kind of it. It's not manipulated magic, this is raw… and powerful. She looks through the window one more time and she realizes that the sensation is coming from the snow… Curiosity is aroused on her and she ponders if she should check this… Maybe it will be a distraction from everything… It can also be a risk she's not sure she's willing to take now that she has her son by her side…

She's brought back from her thoughts by a hoarse voice,

"Mom?"

A sleepy Henry with a misbehaved hair calls her, as he is getting into a sitting position and also rubbing his eyes. So much for an attempt to make himself wake up… one that clearly failed as he looks like he's sleep talking.

"Oh, sweetheart! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

Henry had been observing his mother starring at the window with a cryptic look and he knew something came up. She pretends like nothing was crossing her mind… He knows better. He knows that, actually, she turns 100% of her attention to him whenever he calls her, and she really leaves everything behind. That is why he knows she's not lying when he asks if there's something wrong and she says a half smiling "Of course, not."

"Why are you up so early?"

"Oh I was just… I was cold and I got up to fix the heater. I guess I got distracted by the change in the weather." She smiles at him and adds, "But you should go back to sleep. I'm gonna make some coffee for me."

"You sure you're ok?"

She just smiles and walks towards the bed. She places a kiss on his forehead, which reminds him all over again of when she broke the curse, and she whispers, "I love you, Henry." She pulls up the blankets on him as if he's 10 years old again and leaves the room.

She drinks her coffee and uses her magic to change, because she's sure Henry will wake up if she goes in there. At last, she decides to go. Go and check where the magic is coming from. She leaves a note to Henry,

_Good Morning honey,_

I'm going to take a walk; maybe the fresh air will help me to get better soon. I should be back around 9am. There's cereal and an apple strudel that I left on the counter. Thank you for staying with me, and don't worry, everything is okay. I'm just walking around.

Love you,

Mom

.

The magic is almost calling her and in a strange way, she knows exactly where she should go. She's still slightly weak and that worries her that maybe she can't handle a long walk… search, right now. But, she will be prepared. As she's walking she thinks… thinks about everything. And she catches herself repeating, "Love is weakness". She unconsciously believes it and tries to fight this lie. But the evidences in her life tell her otherwise… except for Henry. Without much effort she's already planning revenge. But, again, she has to remind herself what it brought to her and that now she knows it is not a good option.

She was right, she could never have that. A family. And he said it was all about timing. How naïve was she that she believed it.

She's walking without paying attention, although, it seems her feet know precisely where to go. She stumbles when she gets to the edge of the forest, she's surprised that she was brought here and she thinks that maybe the magic is coming form the well. She walks in, cautiously aware that from that point on she could meet Robin anytime. The forest was his home. She does it anyway. She sees the ice track that is very suspicious, but she follows it.

The further she goes on the ice track the colder to gets. When she reaches the ice structure in the center of the forest, she's shivering. And she's not sure why she's doing this. She notices that there are couple of pairs of footsteps on the ice. One of them, reminds her of Robin's boot. She's observing the complexity of the structure, which reminds her of her castle. She feels q cold wind blow around her, and her whole body shivers. Then, there's a firm and cautious voice that talks to her,

"Who are you?"

The voice startles Regina, and her first reaction is to open her hand to a fire ball (one that she regrets not thinking about it before, she could certainly use it to keep the warmth of her body). Her move also surprised the source of the voice and it all happens in a wink of an eye. Regina spots a shadow behind one of the ice pillars and she shows herself. A beautiful woman with a long dress and her eyes are of a light blue. The woman moves quickly and throws what looks like snow but it turns into frost, then ice and it hits the fireball, freezing it and right after it slightly touches Regina's arm opening a deep cut. Regina's winces and takes her left hand to where the blood is freely flowing on her right arm. As soon as she raises her head again thinking about the next move, she's suddenly face to face with the other woman. She's only inches away from Regina, and there's snow flowing around them. Regina looks into her eyes and sees anger and revenge, the lack of love, feelings she's known too well and that she also saw in Zelena's eyes. She blames her weakness for her slow thinking process. But there's q lot of blood coming out of her and because she's not completely recovered yet she feels the dizziness coming to her. The ice lady raises a hand up and she's motioning towards Regina's arm when Regina gives her one last look and asks:

"Who are you "

"I'm the Queen"

Before she can touch Regina, the brunette waves her hand and is covered on purple smoke. The next thing she feels is a tiny hand touching her. The warm touch and the shaky voice startle her. She's at Robin's camp. She lost way too much blood and she was probably too weak to notice when Roland saw her sitting on the ground when her knees buckled on her. And then, there's the next voice she listens,

"Roland? Roland, where are you my boy?"

"Papa? I'm here. Regina is here too."

She listens as the voice gets closer, although she can't see him yet. He's is staring to say,

"Roland, we talked about Regina and you have to stop..." The sentence is broken by the sight of the brunette sitting lying against the tree. She's pale and he can see blood everywhere on her right side. Roland is holding her hand. His heart skips a beat and in a second he's calling her,

"Regina? Can you hear me?"

She mumbles, "I'm fine. Just call Emma and ask her to take me home. I'm just weak."

"You have blood everywhere." He's running his hands on her side looking for the injure. "I'll clean you up and I'll call Emma"

"Is she alright, papa?"

"She will be son. Go fetch little John."

"Robin, please. Just call someone to take me away from here."

* * *

**So what did you guys think? What are your expectation for how Elsa will be portrayed in the TV show?**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So, this was a really exciting week with all the bts pics circulating. I loved it. I guess I got way too excited and wrote a longer chapter. **

**Again, let me know what you think about it. Review, PM me whatever works for you. Besides bts pictures, your comments certainly push me to write =)**

**A huge thank you to _Anny Rodrigues_! She's been amazing proof reading my stuff and always being so available. _THANK YOU!_**

* * *

She really didn't think about what she's saying. "Call Emma'', that's what she said.

Snow would be all over her, full of worries and optimism; Charming… well, he's Prince Charming and the sound of his name is already infuriating for her, he would be all-chivalrous as if she's a lady in distress. No! She can't handle that. Then, there's Emma, the woman who helped her figure out the memory loss, who believed in her when no one did. The same woman who took her happy ending; the one she hasn't faced since the event at Granny's. And here she is, asking Robin to call Emma to rescue her form his arms… If she could only do it herself…

She tries to focus on her magic but she's way too drained from energy… and, focus for her own sake.

* * *

"Regina, look at me!" his voice is firm and he's worried the woman will lose conscious with the amount of blood that she loosing. The gash on her arm is deep and it looks like someone tried to slice her arm in two. The injure itself is not serious, it's just too deep, "Whale can probably stitch it together easily", Robin thinks to himself. But she lost too much blood and he has no idea for how long it has been like this. He knows it is really recent but Regina is in essence stubbornness and right now she's not willing to let him know more about it.

"I'm here, thief". Her eyes are blank, though, and she is looking into nothingness. No, she's not there and he knows it.

"Regina, keep the focus on me. Listen to my voice. Do not close your eyes. Stay awake for me, please."

She sighs. "Why would I do something for you?" Her voice is in a low volume, almost a whisper and her head is bending sideways, every time he realizes she's about to faint he cups her face and looks her in the eye while talking to her. He needs to keep her awake. He takes her on his arms and brings her into a tent. He already called Emma, and she should be on her way. Regina tries to fight a little when he lifts her up, but she's too weak for that. He puts her down gently on a blanket and starts cleaning the wound. She winces as he gets close to the deep gash. He has to keep talking to her, even though he knows she has no interest in talking to him right now, but she needs to stay awake.

"Milady, tell me what happened. How did you appeared in the middle of the forest? Why did you come here?"

She shuffles a little on the blanket. And moves her mouth but nothing comes out. Her eyes are half closed and he sees her concentrating. "Talk to me, Regina."

"I'm the Queen here, thief. I give the orders."

"There you are. I missed you, Your Majesty." The words come out of his mouth quicker than he intended it to be and there's a deeper connotation to it that he knows… and she feels it. She opens her eyes slightly to look at him, and he only sees pain. She keeps talking ignoring his words.

"Well, you're not really smart when it comes to other matters that are not bows and arrows, Robin of Locksley. If you didn't gather this information by now, I have magic." The words are coming out with much effort and her husky voice is becoming a whisper more and more, but she keeps going. "That's how I appear into places. Yet, I don't know why I appeared here, I must've been to tired and my magic… fal… faltered me." She sighs deeply. And closes her eyes for seconds. Long enough for him to touch her again in the face.

"Regina, stay with me. Here, have some water." He helps her into a sitting position and holds the cup for her but she lifts her good arm and takes the cup from him.

"Thank you."

"You shouldn't wander by yourself like this, Regina. The forest is dangerous and…" He's looking at her eyes when his attention is drawn by the change on her wound. He looks attentively to it also calling Regina's attention to it, and she abruptly turns her head to her arm. The whole motion was too fast and dizziness takes over her and as an instinct she puts her right arm on the floor, which reminds her of the great the pain of her wound and she's falling, as Robin holds her back and lays her down.

"Slow down, Your Majesty." He is still eyeing her arm; the cut has frost around it, and he thinks of the ice castle he saw and the woman inside it.

She hears him all from a distant place and his voice is more like mumbling to her now. And she feels her body becoming numb, her eyes are heavy and she knows she's drifting away. Then, it's darkness.

* * *

She fainted while he was trying to call her once more. She's cold now and he can clearly see frost around the wound so he grabs the warm water that he had heated for some tea. He wets a washcloth and places it around the wound to melt the frost. Her body temperature gets better after that.

Emma arrived couple of minutes after Regina fainted.

Little John leads her to Robin's tent. She doesn't know what to expect, Robin was very succinct concerning what happened to Regina. However, he was clear when he said that Regina asked for her assistance.

* * *

That should make her more confident about this, but it is quite the opposite, she's sure it was more of a lack of options kinda situation. The whole thing is a deep puddle of awkwardness, she's there to pick up the woman that she devastated couple of days ago, unintentionally; but it still happened. Plus she's taking her from the man that was supposed to be her… lover? She's nervous. She doesn't know what to expect and from the very little that Robin said she gathered that Regina was badly wounded. So, she left the house without giving much information to Henry, in fact, he has no idea Emma left to pick Regina up and bring her to the hospital.

She asked a Mary Margaret to have lunch with him… somewhere else but Regina's place.

She enters the tent to find a very pale Regina lying on a blanket on the floor and a very concerned Robin pressing a washcloth to her arm. Regina's shirt has a lot of blood and looking from the distance she could still see the depth of the cut even through the tore fabric of her shirt.

"Is she ok?"

"She's lost quite a lot of blood. The gash was deeper than I thought… and… I think that she was still not fully recovered from the last couple of days. I'm sure Dr. Whale will fix this easily, but she needs to go to the hospital, she's too weak."

"Did she really want me here?"

"She required you."

"Yeah, that she did. Did she say how did this happened?"

"No. But I have a clue." He looks at Regina then faces Emma. "There was frost around the gash and she was really cold. It melted after I cleaned it with warm water. You… You should take her, she won't be happy if she wakes up here."

"I'm not sure she will be happy to wake up at the hospital either. Can you bring her to my car?"

"Yes." He picks her up with so much care that the view hurts Emma. Did she really destroy this? He clearly cares for her.

She's heading to the hospital when she has a last thought about it. Actually, she has a pretty clear vision of how pissed Regina will be if she wakes up at the hospital. She grabs her phone,

"Whale?"

"Morning, Sheriff. Or should I say afternoon? How can I assist you?"

"So, Regina got hurt… Nothing serious. She'll probably just need some…" She glances at the unconscious woman on her backseat, "many stiches and some painkillers. I have her in my car but I'm well aware of her aversion to hospitals."

"What is it that you need from me, Miss Swan?"

"Do you think you could come over to the mansion and treat her there?"

"I'm not a ambulant hospital, Sheriff."

"Whale, cut the crap. You're coming, or I'll pick you up. Oh! I forgot to mention she's unconscious you might need something to hydrate her. I'll see you in 10."

"Giving orders now… I guess you fit the princess status. I'll try to be there by then."

* * *

Emma calls her father on her way to Regina's house and lets him know what is going on. At first, she thought about asking him to come over to help her getting the former queen inside the house. But then, she thought she could handle her… physically and emotionally once she woke up. Luckily for Emma, Regina started to slowly wake up and by the time they parked on her driveway, the brunette was some sort of conscious… not completely though.

"Do you think you can do this?"

"Does it matter, Miss Swan? I'll have to get in there somehow."

Emma had a slight grin on her face. "Well, she's conscious enough to keep up with her sassiness", she thought. She places one arm around the woman's waist and helps her out of the car. She felt the weight of Regina on her body; she lost blood but not enough to make her that weak, she thinks. But clearly, Regina hasn't recovered from the past battles with her sister and Emma was sure that Regina was in agony for accepting Emma's help.

"Whale is on his way here, we should get you cleaned first." She helps her to sit on her bed. She thinks about asking Regina if she needs help to shower. But she's positive that the stubborn woman will never admit needing help, so… she changes her approach.

"Can I help you to clean yourself?"

Emma looks at Regina and the former queen is pale, she has dark circles under her eyes, she's putting her weight on her uninjured side, her eyes are skipping from one emotion to another. Emma can see the war inside of her; Regina just looks at her but doesn't answer.

"Regina… I just want to help you to get ready for Whale. Henry… Henry wants to see you, he doesn't know what happened…" Regina stares at Emma as if she's looking into the blond woman's soul… almost as if she's looking for a confirmation of what she's say is true or not.

"…You know he would never forgive me if I don't help you and he will certainly give you a pep talk if he finds out you didn't accept my help."

"Let's get over with this, Miss Swan. Yes… you… you may help me."

Emma turns on the water to fill up the bathtub, and then she helps Regina to take her blouse off, being excessively careful with her arm, which didn't really help, but she tried. Whale arrived right after Regina got dressed and she was lying on her bed when Emma said,

"Alright then, he's here. I'll get the door."

Regina just felt like going to sleep. Although, the pain on her arm was getting worse by the minute and she was sure it would be impossible to fall asleep. There was also the constant coldness she was feeling since she met the supposed to be queen in the forest. She didn't eat anything all morning, except for the cup of coffee she had. She just felt like resting and being left alone.

Henry was with Snow, but she guessed he would be home soon… He would get upset to know she got hurt, that is for sure. But, a more pressing issue is who that woman is, and if she's really a queen where from… Regina felt like mentioning about her encounter in the forest couple of times to Emma… but…she needs more information. She wasn't sure if the supposed queen really intended on hurting her.

"Your Majesty? What is it that's troubling you now?" Whale asked with a very sarcastic tone from the bedroom door.

"It's just a cut. If you're competent enough I'm sure you can handle this and soon we will be free from each other's presence and back in the curse to finding a happy ending, yes?"

Whale places his tools on the cabinet by her bed and sends her a defying look. He, then, takes her arm to look at the deep cut.

"Where did… actually, who did this to you?"

"Is this information somehow relevant to your job right now? I don't think so."

"Always the kindest, aren't you Regina?. This is going to hurt, but once it's done you will be fine."

He grabbed some cotton to clean the area with alcohol and started to stitch her skin together. Emma watched the scene by the door, the former queen winced as Whale pulled the skin together, and at some point she saw a tear running down her cheek. However, the woman lay still as a rock on the bed. When he finished he wrapped her arm gently so it wouldn't press too much the injury, but it was firm enough to prevent her from moving the injured area. He also said she could keep taking the painkillers and in a few days she should come over to the hospital so he could take a look and eventually remove the stitches. He also told her to eat something and try to rest for a day or two due to the amount of blood she lost and the headaches that she was still dealing with.

* * *

The Sheriff walks Whale to the door and comes back to the bedroom to find a puzzled Regina looking at the window. Emma brought a toast and a glass of juice with her. She placed the tray on the bed when she heard Regina's voice.

"Ask what you've been anxiously waiting to ask, Miss Swan." Regina says without even facing the other woman.

"Before answering me, you have to decide what you'll say to a very worried Henry. I told him you wanted to talk to me, when Robin called me, and then I told him that he should go to Mary Margaret's to have lunch and be back in the afternoon… so, he will be here soon."

"I'll tell him the truth. At least the truth that he needs to know." Emma can feel the honesty on her voice; she knows that Regina will keep her word of not lying to Henry ever again. Even if the price for that would be greater than she thought he could handle.

"Fair enough. Now, what happened Regina? What were you doing in the forest? Robin told me that you didn't say anything to him… But he said you asked for me so I have the right to know."

"You assumed wrongly, Miss Swan. No. You have no right to know anything about me. What I was doing in the forest is none of your concern. I will tell you though, what happened because it's a town issue. There's an…"

"Ice structure in the middle of the forest?" Emma completed the sentence with a concerned look on her face.

Regina turned to face her walked to her bed to take a sit. "How did you know? "

The former queen asks while rubbing her temple and then she decides to have some of the juice Emma bought her. Emma nods and smiles when she sees her drinking the juice.

"Robin found the ice track when he was heading to his camp. He said he wanted to call you but he thought you wouldn't answer", Regina took a glance of Emma for a second she held it there just starring at the blonde woman. "So he called me and asked me to come and check it out with David. We followed the track and got to the… _castle_?. In the end we thought it would be appropriate to ask Gold if he knows something about it."

"Did you talk to the imp?"

"No, not yet."

Regina sighs, because she knows she will need to tell her everything, though she's so tired.

"Alright then, there was a woman in this castle you mentioned. I went to the forest because I felt the presence of magic around… a different brand of magic and I needed to get some… My reasons for doing that are pointless to the situation. Anyhow I heard something while I was there and lit up a ball of fire in my hand… And then there was this woman and I think she got scared and attacked me with… with snow, which put my fireball down and then… it turned into ice and hit my arm."

"Did you talk to her? Do you know who she is?"

"Yes and No. She came really close to me but I soon as I was hit I felt an excruciating pain and things got fuzzy… I didn't even realize she was so close to me. " Regina the rubbing her temple again as if she's trying to remember more details about it. "She said she was… a queen and then, she was motioning to touch my arm, but… but I felt really dizzy and I knew I had to get away from there so I used magic to get out. I guess I was getting to weak or simply dizzy and I ended up at Robin's place."

"Regina, he was really worried about you. I'm sorry about… everything. I didn't know…"

"Miss Swan, I asked for you because I ran out of options and I was not in the mood to deal with your obnoxiously hopelessly optimistic mother. And not because I wanted to have a heart-to-heart… So, thank you for helping. But now you can go back to your…"

She stopped speaking when she heard someone coming upstairs and by the heaviness of the steps she knew it was a clumsy teenage Henry coming.

"Mom? Are you upstairs?"

* * *

_**So what did you think? I'm excited to hear from you all =)**_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hi Everyone! So it's getting harder to write but thank you for you amazing support. This was a labored chapter, I felt a little stuck for a while so I apologize for any and everything that may be a little off. I'm so crazily busy lately that my muse hasn't really been cooperative. Anyways, regardless everything I hope you enjoy and comment, ask me questions etc. Also I'm more then welcome to prompts so just send me on my tumblr (oneresilientheart )and I'll write it. =***

* * *

Regina eyes go from darting fire on Emma to panic at the sound of Henry's voice. She was not ready to tell him the truth. As a matter of fact she wasn't ready for him to know how weak she was feeling. This is why Emma stayed in the room, but what she saw was the scared woman put on a mask, she saw Regina becoming the Queen in seconds… But she knows better than that, she knows that even the mask has its limits with Henry. The former Queen opened her heart too widely to try to hide something from her son now.

So Emma slightly nods to the brunette as if telling her she will give her some support in whatever excuse she will tell him. In return Regina looks deeply into her eyes and turns to the door.

"Yes, sweetheart. I'm here."

In an instant he's stepping into her room, he faces Emma with a smile.

"Finally friends? Can I trust you both alone?"

"You always could kiddo… Well kinda."

He moves forward towards her when he sets his eyes on Regina. His smile fades away and he suddenly possesses a worried look that aged him to the point he looked like an adult. Concern is all over his face. Regina quickly moves closer saying,

"Honey, it's ok. This is nothing."

"Mom, what happened?" He turns to Emma and inquiring her…

"Henry, she has nothing to do with it. She came to help me."

"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt? How did this happen?"

Regina is processing what is she going to tell him, lie to him is not an option, but the complete truth will worry him too much and will put him in risk… His curiosity will lead him to check the ice castle too. Emma then steps in,

"Okay! So, we all have some questions I guess. But kiddo your mom has been through a lot and she's still recovering from her visit to the hospital… So, why don't we sit down a little, she needs to rest and I'm sure she will tell you everything. But I was just telling her to rest a little…"

"It's fine Emma, thank you. I'll talk to him and I'll rest. It's very simple really, Henry."

She gets closer to him and invites him for a hug. "I love you. You seem you're growing everyday."

"Mom, don't change the subject."

"Alright then, I got hurt and I'm too tired to deal with the Idiots" Emma rolls her eyes on the mention, "I didn't want to worry you, because it wasn't serious. So I called Emma because she would get to me fast enough and just do what was necessary. I needed to talk to her though, that was true."

"How did you get hurt?"

"Honey, that is something that is not in the binder. I'm telling you the truth that you need to know. I'm not going to lie to you, Henry. But I'm also not telling you everything. You don't need to know everything."

Her eyes are pleading him not to continue with this. Emma doesn't know what to do. Henry can see how tired his mom is, so he rests the case.

"Alright. I just… I just want you to be careful. And thank you, Emma."

She smiles at him and nods at Regina, the other woman gives her a faint but thankful smile that the conversation is over.

"Alright, Regina are you okay now? Do you need anything?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for your assistance. I'll talk to you tomorrow Sherriff."

"Right. Ok, then. Do I get a hug kiddo?" He comes to her still wearing his worried look. She understands him and just smiles at him confirming that everything is ok. It's a simple conversation without words, but Emma hopes that it will calm him down. "See you tomorrow, take care of her."

She leaves the room thinking about the person who did this to Regina.

"Are you hungry?"

"No, mom I'm ok. But you need to rest. If I get hungry I'll have some cereal."

"I can make you some dinner…"

"No. You go and rest… And I'm still not conformed with your answer."

" Very well. I'll go to sleep. I love you."

* * *

Robin is too worried about Regina; the woman in the ice structure also intrigues him. He is also positive that she has something to do with Regina's injury; therefore he decides to visit the woman that owns his heart. He repeats to himself that he will talk only about the ice situation so Regina won't push him away. It is impossible though, and he knows it.

He knocks on the door and a curious Henry receives him.

"Good evening, Henry. Is your mom here?"

"Uh… she's resting. What do you want with her?"

" Is she ok? I rescued her and I just wanted to make sure she's fine."

"She is."

Regina is coming downstairs to take some painkillers to help her relax. Robin is already calling her,

"Regina? Regina, thanks goodness you're fine."

Henry didn't see his mom coming downstairs and he turns to watch his nervous mom talking to the outlaw.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, for starters I'm learning that this is a common procedure, to question guests in your home. I was worried and I wanted to talk about what happened."

Henry looks at him trying to gather any information. Regina stares at Robin to let him know that he should be quiet around Henry.

"Oh, if you have the time, of course, milady."

"I'm fine thief. I was about to rest a little, we can talk later on… actually tomorrow."

She heads to her kitchen as a sign for him to leave.

"Regina can I just tell you something?"

"What?" They share a look and Regina walks towards Henry and cups his face,

"Do you mind going upstairs, little prince, I'll be there soon."

Henry frowns at her, but he knows he cannot win this fight so he obeys.

"What is it that can't wait?"

"I think I know who did this to you?" She's observing how worried he is about her and it hurts, she can see his concern in helping her figure this out. "I visited the ice place and when I was leaving with Emma and Charming, I saw someone there, a woman…"

"And what makes you think I know what you're talking about?"

He looks her in the eyes, " There was frost around your arm and you were freezing cold when Roland found you." Her face deceived her and he knew he was right. "Regina, the frost around the gash was what was keeping you from bleeding even more and also keeping your flesh in place, this should be a even worse cut, but the ice kept it like it is."

" It was her. But I don't remember much. I'm not sure she meant to do it, I think we both got scared and it was an accident."

She sighs, because the confession came much too easy, it just shows how much she still trusts him.

"Now, please leave. You saw what happened and you should understand that I need to rest."

"Of course." He turns around and she's closing the door, then she calls him,

"Robin! Keep Roland close. I don't know what is going on."

"I will. Please, take care."

* * *

Elsa couldn't stop thinking about the wounded woman. She doesn't think she went there to attack her, it was an instinct. She hopes that even though the brunette didn't allow her to touch her arm, she placed the frost on the right place to maintain the wound closed. But, there was so much blood.

She's afraid of this new land. Her castle is calling too much attention. She doesn't know how she came to this land, who brought her. She doesn't know how long it has been since she saw Anna for the last time.

But one thing startled her. Whoever that woman was, she, too, has magic. Fire. For the first time, Elsa is not an exception. She thinks that maybe the stranger woman will be the one to help her, or at least tell her what's happened.

The only problem now is that Elsa's mind is rushing through thoughts. She's pondering on everything that happened, and how she's in an unknown place, the fact that she will be identified as a bad person because she attacked the woman, that she's by herself once again. All of these come to her while she decides to go after Regina. Fear is once again taking over her, and her powers are controlled by her feelings… She runs through the ice doors towards the city and she doesn't realize that behind her something is taking shape. Something is taking the shape of her feelings, of fear, and anxiety, and frustration… a snow monster is coming to life.

She enters the city and is surprised by a speedy bicycle crossing her way. People are starring at her, their clothes are different, and she wonders if her dress is calling way too much attention; on the pavement she sees a piece of paper and she bent down to get it. On the front part it showed a picture of a couple, she went through the pages of this weird book to find a picture of Mayor Mills and a short paragraph about her changes for Deputy and the confirmation of the Sheriff as Emma Swan.

"Mayor Mills. That's who the woman was." Elsa said to herself.

Elsa stopped when she heard the roar of what could be a monster. Even worse a giant snowman fed by her fear and anxiety. The sight of the snow monster made Else grow even more afraid of her own powers. Control became an inexistent word on her vocabulary. She saw the civilians of the city running as the coldness approached the town and the roar became louder.

The quickest thought that Elsa has is to try detecting the other woman's magic and trying to find her. So she does. She follows her instincts until a wide street and she decides to call out for the woman:

"Mayor Mills! Mayor Mills"

* * *

Regina is in a light stage of sleep when opens her eyes abruptly. She has no idea why she'd waken up so suddenly and it takes few seconds for her to take everything around her. She's comfortable nested under her blankets. She thinks that the temperature has been really bipolar lately and it feels really cold.

She reaches out to her injured arm and winces and then sits down with her feet touching the floor. A desperate voice reaches her ears and she recognizes what's it's calling upon. It's calling her. She goes downstairs hoping that Henry did not hear the screams. When she gets to the door she storms outside, a ball of fire on her good hand. As soon as she's standing on the porch she identifies the source of the noise. It's the same woman that hurt her. She furiously stares at the woman and prepares herself to throw the fireball on her.

* * *

Elsa felt relieved when she saw the brunette by the door, but as she presumed the woman thought she was going to attack and was waiting for her with fire on her hands. Magic.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you." She says the words while she runs towards the other woman. "I need your help. Please." She has tears in her eyes when she reaches the porch. "I created… I… I don't know how… please…"

Regina sees the fear on the queen's eyes, but she can't understand what's happening until she sees a gigantic snowman furiously coming into town. She stares at the queen and at the monster. She finally understood what she was asking help for. Regina tried to concentrate despite her weakness and tiresome to evolve her fireball into something bigger. As she managed to modify her spell she realized that the younger woman was astonished and the fear was growing in her eyes. She also noticed the coincidence of the anger growing in the monster. She, then, figured out the connection and she knew what she needed to do.

"I need you to calm down. I'll destroy the monster… but you need to calm down."

Elsa looked at Regina and tried to concentrate on the brown eyes.

While Regina dealt with the crisis, Henry woke up and came downstairs following his mother's voice.

"Mom, what's going on?"

"Henry! Go inside. I need you to be safe."

"Mom, who's… what is…" Henry's eyes fell on the monster. Elsa lost her concentration with the arrival of Henry. Regina had to do something quickly. She grabbed the last string of power in her and threw a continue stream of fire on the monster. At first he fought it, but slowly he started to partly melt and also evaporate. Elsa grew calmer as she saw the woman had everything under control, but she saw the exhaustion on the other woman. Henry approached his mother as she let her arm fall to her side.

"Mom are you ok?"

"Yes. Yes. I need you to go inside Henry, please." She gave him pleading eyes and a smile that ensured him he had no word on the situation.

* * *

Regina glanced at the mess that the snow monster left behind and finally laid her eyes on the queen. Her eyes showed a broken, scared and lost woman.

"Who are you? And don't give me 'I'm the queen' answer. Because, as far as I know I am the queen. And in less then 48 hours you threatened me and the whole town."

"I'm sorry… I… I don't know how to control my magic properly and… I thought you were going to hurt me in the forest. I am the queen of Arendale, My name is Elsa. But I haven't been there for many years now."

"Arendale?"

"I apologize for harming you. I was going to heal you there but you vanished. I'm happy to see you're fine. The ice monster is a result of… of my fears. I haven't really met another person with magic. Where I come from I was the only one, except for the trolls and a legend of an old Snow Queen that ruled for many years centuries before I was born. I came to town to apologize and to check if you were fine, I was afraid you had… you were badly injured. The monster followed me and when I got to town I looked for you then I saw the monster and I remembered you had fire. Fire should defeat the ice man…"

"Alright. Enough with the justification babbling." Regina was really tired and annoyed with the lately happenings around Storybrooke.

"You have to believe me Mayor Mills, I mean no harm."

"Alright, Alright." She knew her son was hearing from behind the door. She knew he heard Elsa apologizing for hurting her. She knew he would be upset. She also had a gut feeling Elsa was telling the truth, she needed to act before the whole town came after her tracking down the ice monster.

"Elsa, you said? Well I'll tell you right now that if you do anything to hurt me or my son I will kill you." Elsa just nodded. "With that said, come inside. We need to figure out how you came here to Storybrooke."

Regina turned to her door and said, " Henry? Show yourself." The boy stepped out from behind the door, his look hard on his mom but it softened a little when he saw her tired looks.

"I'm here, mom."

"This is Elsa. She's joining us tonight, but… but I need you to trust me and give us some time alone."

"But I heard her telling she hurt you, and…"

"And you also heard her promising she won't hurt me again. It's ok honey, I just need to help her." She looked to the woman. "Elsa, this is my son, Henry. Now follow me."

Henry stayed at the door while his mom and Elsa passed by him. He saw when his mom pointed to her office, guiding the young queen to get in the room. He saw when she stopped for a second to balance herself on the wall and then took a deep breath.

He wonders for how long she will be in this armor of strength. He decides that he will wait a little but he will call Emma soon to deal with this too.

"I know you think you're doing the right thing mom, but I can't risk loosing you again." He whispers as she walks to the room. Before closing the doors, she looks back and smiles at Henry, "Thank you and eat some dinner. I'll check on you very soon."


	7. - Author's Note -

Hi everyone! First things first, I need to apologize for the lack of updates on the story. I got caught in a bunch of personal things including moving overseas, getting engaged and writing a 120pgs thesis. As a result I lost track of my fanfic writing. Honestly I lost the track of the story, I've spent so long without even addressing it that I'm without ideas. Also, with the new season I'm inclined to follow other paths in the story. So, first let me know if you would be interested in the continuation of the story? But, most importantly send me questions, things that were now answered in the previous chapters, or things that you would like to see here... I've written few prompts and usually I post them on my tumblr. I'm more than welcoming to prompts too. Thank you so much for your patience, for the reviews and I'm sorry for my absence here. You're the best and I want to write the best for you guys =)

Carol


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